1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile radio telephone with an answering function adapted for installation in a motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A telephone with an answering function or mode which automatically records the message of a caller on a recording medium like a cassette tape or an endless tape when nobody is available to answer the telephone. Telephones of this type have an answer mode switch. When this switch is on, the phone mode is changed to the answering mode when receiving a call, and when the switch is off, the phone mode is set to a normal phone mode.
Meanwhile, when a telephone with an answering function is installed in a motor vehicle, if the occupant forgets to change the phone mode to the answer mode when leaving the vehicle, a conventional telephone cannot provide the desired answering service when no one is in the vehicle. As a possible countermeasure to this problem, a method which automatically shifts the phone mode to the answer mode if nobody answers a call after a given number of ringings. This method, however, involves another problem that when the driver is the only occupant in a vehicle and cannot answer a call within a predetermined number of ringings during driving, the answering system will change the phone mode to the answer mode although the vehicle is occupied.